An important stage in Chinese
art - a stage described in ancient historical chronicles, like the
Bamboo Annals, Classic of History and Records of the Grand Historian -
the Xia Dynasty is now accepted as China's first dynasty. Although authoritative
archeological evidence is still lacking, and we are dependent on traditional
chronology, combined with information from the XiaShangZhou
Chronology Project, for dates, the Xia Dynasty is believed to have featured
17 emperors and lasted almost five centuries, ruling China between approximately
2100 and 1700 BCE. It served as a bridge between late Neolithic
art in China and the beginnings of recorded history represented by
the long era of Shang Dynasty art (1600-1050
BCE).

Up until the Xia Dynasty Chinese artifacts
mainly comprised forms of pottery, already of great sophistication, and
items worked from bone, ivory or stone. Xia Dynasty culture is best known
for its bronze making (including
the piece-mold casting technique), goldsmithing
and other metalwork. Chinese pottery
as well as jade carving, other forms of
sculpture like ivory carving,
sericulture, Chinese lacquerware, were also
important exemplars of Xia culture. The first forms of calligraphy
emerged during the final years of the dynasty.

Located throughout Henan and Shanxi Province,
and later Shaanxi and Hubei provinces, the Erlitou culture - discovered
in 1959 by Xu Xusheng, - has been identified by several Chinese archeologists
as the site of the legendary Xia Dynasty (c.2100-1700 BCE). The town of
Erlitou in Yanshi, on the northern bank of the Luohe River, Henan
Province, was famous for its bronze smelting workshops and its status
as the centre of Erlitou Culture ceremonial bronzes. In fact, research
shows that Erlitou was the largest community in China (possibly in the
whole of East Asia) around 2000 BCE, with the earliest known palace building
complex, the earliest known series of ritualistic bronze vessels and the
earliest known bronze casting workshop.

In 1959, archeologists uncovered two palaces in Erlitou, located at "No.1"
and "No.2" sites. They were believed to be the earliest large-scale
palaces in China, dating back to roughly 1875-1575 BCE. More recently,
in 1979, the remains of an even larger and more complex structure have
been unearthed underneath site "No.2", dating back to c.1975
BCE: that is, about a century earlier. As the construction of this third
palace clearly predates the Shangs by at least 300 years, its discovery
seems to confirm that it belongs to the Xia culture.

In some of the courtyards of No.3 site,
scientists discovered a series of tombs, all paved with cinnabar, which
were found to discover a number of unique, never previously seen, objects
including bronze containers, jades, lacquerware and white pottery as well
as glazed ceramic art decorated with turquoise
and seashells. Sadly, no examples of Chinese
painting were discovered

In 2011, Chinese archeologists at Erlitou unearthed the remains of what
appears to be an imperial palace - carbon-dated to approximately 1700
BCE, adding further weight to the supposed existence of the Xia Dynasty
and the central role played by Erlitou in its development. However, according
to Dr. Xu Hong, director of the Erlitou Archeological Team at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, doubts remain as to whether the palace was
built by the Xia or the Shang, or another people altogether. The issue
reflects the wider question - was Erlitou culture made up of Xia culture
to begin with, then later Shang culture, or was it exclusively Xia?